Cornyn: Executive Action on immigration an unconstitutional abuse of power

Published 7:57 am, Thursday, November 20, 2014

PRESS RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. —U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) today spoke on the Senate floor ahead of the President’s planned announcement that he will go around Congress and take executive action on immigration. Excerpts of his remarks are below:

"I've spoken at some length about the practical consequences of the President's amnesty, but those consequences also bear repeating since the eyes of the country are now focused on what the President is going to announce tonight.”

"There's going to be a surge, an uptick of some type of an illegal immigration because people are going to see this as a further signal that it's okay to come."

"As I said earlier, this is also a major boon to the cartels and other gangs who control Mexico's smuggling networks. And it will almost certainly lead to thousands of people who've committed crimes in this country gaining legal status.”

“And it will also, as I said earlier, punish people who played by the rules and have waited patiently in line trying to immigrate to the country legally - it will punish them by putting them in the back of the line.”

"So, Mr. President, there is a right way and a wrong way to do what the President is purporting to do.”

“But the answer is not, and it can't be, a Presidential abuse of power."

"So I wish the President wouldn't do this. It won't work. It's unconstitutional. It purports to exercise a power he himself said he does not have, but he seems determined to do it, nonetheless.”

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“I believe the American people will react negatively to this President's claim of authority to issue this amnesty and I believe then the next step is for Congress to do everything we can to stop it and then to do it the right way, not the wrong way."

Senator Cornyn serves on the Finance and Judiciary Committees. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Refugees and Border Security subcommittee. He served previously as Texas Attorney General, Texas Supreme Court Justice, and Bexar County District Judge.